Cigarette snuffers for ashtrays



. 0a. 14, 1 969 A. BIRDSALL 3,472,240

CIGARETTE SNUFFERS FOR ASHTRAYS Filed March 14, 1968 INVENTOR C/ay A.B/Pasd ATTORNEY United States Patent O US. Cl. 131235 6 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE Made as an attachment for ashtrays, the present deviceis particularly intended for use with motor vehicle ashtrays and is madeof foraminate material such as wire mesh screen to grind the fire fromcigarettes to drop harmlessly through the screen to the bottom of theashtray, separate from cigarette butts therein to prevent setting thelatter on fire, and includes a foraminate wall member extending upwardlyfrom the bottom of the tray near one end wall to a position below thetop edge, the wall member has an upwardly inclined foraminate extensionforming an extinguishing surface and an inclined sieve, the upper end ofthe extension being supported by the upper end portions of opposite sidewalls adjacent to the end wall of the tray.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Motor vehicle ashtrays, however mounted inthe vehicle dash, are provided with extinguishers or snuffers comprisingrearwardly extending elements including a circular snuffer having anopening of substantial size therethrough so that fire from a snuffedcigarette can drop through to the bottom of an ashtray and set fire tocigarette butts in the ashtray. Present extinguishers of this type arenot only impractical but they are diflicult to locate accurately whendriving at night, as in the case of the driver who must keep his eyes onthe road and grope for the extinguisher.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A wire mesh screen is mounted in the rear endof the ashtray and is bent intermediate its ends to provide a forwardwall and an upper wall inclined upwardly and rearwardly and forming thecigarette extinguisher per se. The side edge portions of the upper wallare provided with integral screen tabs adapted for connection with theashtray in a manner depending on the type of vehicle ashtray. Thevertical wall extends downwardly into contact with the bottom of theashtray and has cutaways through which the ashes in the compartmentbeneath the upper wall may flow into the main compartment of the ashtraywhen the latter is removed and tilted for dumping. The vertical wallforms a partition providing a receptacle for receiving ashes and anycrumbs or sparks falling from the upper wall of the device and thevertical wall prevents live coals from coming into contact with any ofthe cigarettes in the main compartment of the ashtray. The deviceextends from side to side of the vehicle ashtray and thus presents anextinguisher of substantial width, thus making it relatively easy forthe driver to extinguish the cigarette without accurately having tolocate the present type of extinguisher.

The wire cloth from which the device is made is preferably made of thetype which is tinned or galvanized after being woven so that all of thejoints of the wire are encased in an integral metallic coating tostiffen the wire so that it can withstand the pressure exerted againstthe wall in extinguishing a cigarette. The vertical wall of the deviceis cut away, as stated, and the intervening Wire parts of the bottom ofsuch wall engage solidly against ice the bottom part of the ashtray tobrace it against pressure exerted against the upper wall whenextinguishing a cigarette.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE 1 is a vertical longitudinalsectional view through one type of motor vehicle ashtray showing thedevice in position therein;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view, a portion of the ashtray being broken away;

FIGURE 3 is a section on line 33 of FIG. 1; and

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to FIG. 3 showing thedevice mounted in a ditferent type of vehicle ashtray.

Referring to FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, the numeral 10 designates the vehicleashtray as a whole having a bottom wall 12, rear and front walls 14 and15, respectively, and side walls 16. In one type of commonly usedvehicles ashtrays the upper extremities of the side walls 16 are turnedoutwardly as at 18 and then bent back upon themselves as at 20 with theportions 18 and 20 spaced from each other as at 22 (FIGURE 1), suchoutwardly extending side wall portions being adapted to slide instationary guides (not shown). The device in this case is in the form ofa drawer and the rear wall 14 is provided with a handle 24 for pullingthe drawer outwardly.

The device forming the subject matter of the invention is indicated as awhole by the numeral 26. This device is formed of a foraminate sheet,preferably relatively stifi screen wire tinned or galvanized to lock thewire joints together and stiffen the sheet. The wire is benttransversely of the ashtray as at 2-8 to form a top wall 30 and avertical wall 32. The edges of the screen element adjacent the wall 14are provided with laterally extending tabs 34, the extremities of whichare extended into the spaces 22 to support the edge of the wall 30adjacent the wall 14. The bottom of the vertical wall 32 is cut away asat 36, leaving downwardly extending tabs 38 seating against the bottomwall 12 of the ashtray. These tabs support the upper wall 30 of thescreen element when pressure is applied thereagainst. It will be notedthat the wall 14 is provided with a conventional cigarette snufier 40,the disadvantages of which have been noted above. The present device isinstalled with the upper wall 30 above the conventional extinguisher 40.The screen device divides the ashtray into a pair of compartments 42 and44, the latter of which will contain cigarette butts for reasonsdescribed below.

Some types of vehicle ashtrays (FIGURE 4) have side walls 46 whichfrictionally engage stationary walls 48 to be held in position thereby.This type of tray has its side walls 46 provided with upper flanges 50turned over the top of each wall 48. When used with this type ofashtray, the tabs 34 will be crimped over the flanges 50.

OPERATION The person in the motor vehicle when smoking a cigarette mayslide a tray 10 to an open position and knock ashes from the cigarettefrom time to time against the screen wall 30. When the cigarette is tobe extinguished, the lighted end thereof will be rubbed back and forthover the screen portion 30. This will extinguish most if not all of thefire and the screen is sufiiciently coarse to permit ashes, shreds oftobacco and any remaining fire to fall into the compartment 42. Thesmoker will then drop the cigarette into the compartment 44. It will benoted that the screen 30 slopes forwardly of the compartment 44 so thatif the smoker drops the cigarette onto the screen portion 30, the buttwill gravitate and fall into the compartment 44. Any cigarettesaccumulating in the ashtray therefore will always be in the compartment44, while ashes will accumulate in the compartment 42 and will be keptout of contact of cigarettes or any small pieces of trash, paper, etc.,which may be in the compartment 44.

As previously stated, a conventional extinguisher 40 usually has arelatively large opening therethrough and live coals of cigarettes mayfall through such opening and start a fire in cigarettes in the bottomof the ashtray. It is diffcult at night to accurately locate theconventional extinguisher and very often substantially the entirelighted end of the cigarette will be knocked off and fall into theashtray to ignite cigarette butts in the bottom of the tray. With thepresent device, the screen wall 30 extends from side to side of theashtray and in extinguishing a cigarette the smoker does not have tolocate any particular spot to extinguish the cigarette, the wall portion30 being of substantial area. A cigarette rubbed over any portion of thewall 30 will extinguish the cigarette and drop the ashes into thecompartment 42, kept separate from the compartment 44 by the wall 32.The wire employed preferably is approximately of /s mesh, thuspermitting ashes, fire and cigarette shreds to fall easily into thecompartment 42. The wire is relatively stiff and the end of the wall 30adjacent the wall 14 is effectively supported by the tabs 34. These tabsmay extend into the groove 22, as shown in FIGURE 2, or they may becrimped over the flanges 50 in the form of the ashtray shown in FIGURE4.

When the tray is to be emptied, it will be withdrawn and tilteddownwardly toward the wall 15, in which case ashes in the compartment 42will flow through the cutaways 36 into the compartment 46, whereupon thetray may be dumped.

While the device is particularly intended for use with vehicle ashtraysand has been so described, it will be apparent that it is not limited tosuch use but may be designed for use with other types of ashtrays toform separate compartments for fire and ashes on the one hand andextinguished cigarette butts on the other.

The device accordingly is a safety device for use with ashtraysgenerally.

From the foregoing it will now be seen that there is herein provided animproved cigarette snuffer for ashtrays which accomplishes all of theobjects of this invention and others, including many advantages of greatpractical utility and commercial importance.

As various embodiments may be made of this inventive concept, and asmany modifications may be made in the embodiment hereinbefore shown anddescribed, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to beinterpreted merely as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A cigarette snulfer for an ashtray comprising a foraminate upper wallportion having one end anchored to the ashtray adjacent one wallthereof, and means for supporting the other end of said foraminate wallat a point spaced substantially from a wall of the ashtray opposite saidfirst-named wall thereof to provide a cigarette butt receivingcompartment separate from the space heneath said forminate wall, saidmeans for supporting the foraminate wall comprising a verticalforaminate wall having spaced portions seating against the bottom of theashtray.

2. A device according to claim 1 having means adjacent said one wall ofsaid ashtray to connect opposite sides of the snuifer to opposite sidesof said ashtray, said means for supporting said other end of saidforaminate wall comprising a vertical foraminate wall fixed to saidfirst-named foraminate wall and having spaced portions engaging thebottom of the ashtray.

3. A device according to claim 1 wherein said foraminate walls areformed of a unitary woven wire body bent transversely intermediate itsends to form said foraminate walls.

4. A device according to claim 3 wherein the lower edge of said verticalforaminate Wall provided with spaced extensions engaging the bottom ofthe ashtray to support said first-named foraminate wall provides spacesbetween said extensions for the flow of ashes from the space beneathsaid first-named foraminate wall to said compartment when the ashtray istilted downwardly toward said compartment.

5. A device according to claim 4 wherein the ashtray is in the form of adrawer having longitudinal edge portions bent to form guide flanges eachhaving a groove opening inwardly of the tray, the wire screen at thelateral edges of said first-named foraminate wall adjacent said Wall ofsaid ashtray extending upwardly and laterally outwardly of the tray intothe spaces of said flanges.

6. A device according to claim 4 wherein the ashtray is provided withlaterally opposite parallel walls, the up per edges of which areextended outwardly of the tray to form longitudinal flanges, the wirescreen adjacent said one wall of said ashtray having laterally extendingtabs projecting upwardly and crimped over said flanges.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 146,267 1/1947 Quigley.1,143,159 6/1915 Zwickle. 1,964,388 6/ 1934 Simpson 13l235 2,307,645 1/1943 Smith. 2,574,813 11/1951 Cadrain. 2,591,113 4/1952 Ajdukovich.2,645,229 7/1953 Stillman. 3,404,693 10/ 1968 Chapman 131-235 FOREIGNPATENTS 1,104,299 6/1955 France.

JOSEPH S. REICH, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 13 1-240

